“Thrive Grand Rapids,” a five-minute video produced for a Kendall College of Art & Design class by a group of students, has been generating increasing social media chatter after a Movoto real estate site blogger picked-up on it last week.

The video features interviews with local Grand Rapids boosters over B-roll of activity at downtown businesses like MadCap Coffee, Vault of Midnight comics, Central District Cyclery and Propaganda Doughnuts.

According to a project statement posted online, the video grew out of meetings with 616 Development, a growing downtown housing provider behind developments like the recently rehabilitated Kendall Building.

The purpose, as stated under the video:

"Grand Rapids is full of brave, ambitious people who deserve a city center that fully supports their basic needs. We want to create a walkable, livable, thriving community in the City Center that will continue to differentiate Grand Rapids. Making it a destination for the next generation of talent that will continue the great work of this century.

We are proposing for the city to do a comprehensive study of housing trends, market analysis, financial tools, and basic services. To then gather the appropriate groups to create a development toolkit that will aid in future development of the City Center."